ALA Annual

Several of my meeting slots were taken up by NMRT (New Members Round Table) meetings and events. I’ve been Treasurer-elect/Assistant Treasurer this past year, and now I’m transitioning into the Treasurer position. So I attended the NMRT Board Meeting, as well as the ALA Budget and Planning Assembly. I also got to meet the outgoing Treasurer, Easter, for the first time, and that was fun! Easter and I have been emailing and talking on the phone for the past year, so it was super to meet her in person and talk NMRT budget stuff.

I also attended the annual NMRT Social and Awards Reception, held at Ditka’s. It turned out to be a very nice location for our soirée, and a fun time was had by all! (Hats off to Rachael for organizing this fun NMRT event!)

I also attended a session called “Redesigning Technical Services for the 21st Century: A Case Study from the University of Alabama Libraries.” It was an interesting presentation to a standing-room-only crowd. I enjoyed hearing their stories, since the Tech Services Division where I work is going through a reorganization of well.

While I rarely visit the Exhibit Hall during conferences, I went this time to meet one of my favorite mystery writers, Susan M. Boyer! She was scheduled to sign books at the Sisters in Crime booth at a specific time, so I stopped by to say hello! It was so much fun meeting her!

Donna Herula at Buddy Guy’s Legends

On the non-conference side of things, I enjoyed a couple of dinners out. One was at a place called Buddy Guy’s Legends, a blues club that happened to be near my hotel. I got to hear live blues music (Donna Herula on guitar this time) over a plate of yummy shrimp creole!

Another evening, I met up with a group for Chicago-style deep dish pizza. I organized the group in a Facebook group of librarians coming to ALA Annual, and we met up at Lou Malnati’s. The pizza was yummy, and the group had a fun time! It was a nice opportunity to meet some Facebook friends, to boot!

All in all, I had a super time at ALA Annual and in Chicago! My NMRT treasurer duties will take me to Denver in January, and I can’t wait!

Most of my meetings and activities were related to NMRT (the ALA New Members Round Table), but I also enjoyed the Elsevier Networking Reception Sunday night at the Georgia Aquarium. As part of the reception, we got to walk around on a self-guided tour, where I saw several people I know and met a fellow Duke alum who works for Elsevier now. One of my favorite parts of the Aquarium was watching the beluga whales, though my photos of them didn’t turn out well.

I also had lunch with a couple of colleagues, which was fun! On Sunday, I ate with a former library school classmate, and we hit the food court at the CNN Center, just before the pre-game influx of Falcon and Packer fans!

This conference experience was a little different for me, as I took my walker with me for assistance with my healing foot sprain. Having a walker for the conference gave me a different perspective on how things (like public restrooms and hotel rooms) are laid out for people with mobility issues. I also had to build in some extra rest time, so I missed some programs I would’ve enjoyed going to. I’m looking forward to the ALA Annual Conference this summer in Chicago!